Alaska Sports News

West Valley Basketball Player Signing a Division I scholarship Nov 14th

West Valley Senior Basketball Player Hannah Mattson will be signing a national letter of intent for a scholarship at Division I University of Portland of the West Coast Conference. Hannah will be signing on Wed November 14th at 3pm in Room 108 at West Valley High School.

Hannah had many opportunities at the Division II level as well as 10 opportunities at the Division I level. Some of the Division I schools that offered Hannah full scholarships were The University of Nevada Reno, Fresno State, Colorado State University, Eastern Washington University, University of Denver, and Idaho State University.

Hannah started her successful competitive playing career at the elementary and junior high levels with the Fairbanks Grizzlies Basketball Program which was coached by North Pole coach Keenan Hollister and former UAF standout Justin Bourne. The grizzlies traveled to many outside tournaments to compete and get exposure.Hannah not only excells on the basketball court but off the basketball court as well as she maintains a 4.33 G.P.A

Hannah High School Accolades include the following:

Freshman Season- As starting point guard helped lead West Valley (22-8) to a Mid Alaska Conference Title and fourth place finish at the Alaska AAAA State Basketball Championships/ All Tournament at Wasilla Doc Larson Roundball Classic/ All Tournament at Dimond Lady Lynx Classic/ All Conference and MVP of Mid Alaska Conference/ All State and All Tournament All- State/ Played with Dorena Binghams and Don Witzel Summer Travel Team named Team Alaska.

Sophomore Season - Led team (22-6) to Mid Alaska Conference Title and a fouth place finish at the Alaska State AAAA Basketball Championships/ Team Co-Captain/ MVP of Joe Floyd Kodiak Basketball Tournament/ All Tournament at Mt. McKinley Monroe Basketball Tournament/ All Tournament at Dimond Lady Lynx Classic/ All Conference/ All State First Team/ All- State tournament team/ Earned West Valley Athlete of the Year/ Played with Tree of Hope Summer Travel Team coached by Charlie Engle.

Junior Season- Led Wolfpack (25-4) to a Mid Alaska Conference Title with a second place finish at the Alaska State AAAA Basketball Championships/ Team Co- Captain/ All Tournament at Thunder Mountain Basketball Classic/ MVP of Mt. McKinley Monroe Basketball Tournament/ All Tournament at Dimond Lady Lynx Classic (assists lead record)/ All Conference/ All State First Team/ All State Tournament Team/ Alaska State Gatorade Player of the Year/ Played with Alaska Tree of Hope Travel Team.

In three season with the West Valley Wolfpack Hannah has scored 1, 326 points with an average of 15 ppg, 5 assists per game, 3 steals per game, 7.5 rebounds per game. Hannah helped her team in three seasons to a overall 73 and 18 record with a 35 and 2 Mid Alaska Conference Record.

Sitka alum wrestles well

Will Patrick, from Sitka, a freshman wrestler at Forest Grove, Oregon’s Pacific University won three matches in his Pacific debut at 141 pounds. He opened his Boxers’ career with 19-3 technical fall of Clackamas CC’s A.J. Ballard and took consolation rounds matches with a technical fall over teammate Shawn Speer (Fr., Battle Ground, Wash.) and a 7-4 decision over Clackamas Community College’s Richard Quesada.

UAA hockey ties No. 2 Gophers

ANCHORAGE – Goals by seniors Jordan Kwas and Alex Gellert gave the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves a 2-2 tie against the No. 2-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Sullivan Arena on Saturday evening.

Both the Seawolves (2-3-3, 0-2-2 WCHA) and the Gophers (6-2-1, 3-2-1 WCHA) furnished power-play goals in the first period, before each team netted their first even-strength tallies of the weekend in the third period of play. Minnesota sits tied at No. 4 in the WCHA standings with seven points, while UAA advanced to a three-way tie at No. 9 with two points.

The Golden Gophers struck early with their fifth power-play tally of the weekend at 2:11 of the opening frame. Seth Helgeson was credited with his first of the season, while Travis Boyd and Mike Reilly earned the assists.

Kwas knotted the game 1-1 at 12:21 of the first with UAA’s second man advantage strike of the season. Rookie Blake Tatchell found Kwas centered outside the net, and the Cochrane, Alberta, native sent it five-hole. Freshman Blake Leask was credited with the second helper.

Following a scoreless second, Gellert gave the Seawolves their first lead of the weekend in the third period. Derek Docken fed Gellert the puck from the point for his fourth of the season and team-leading sixth point at 5:38.

The Gophers retailed when Erik Haula broke free from the Seawolf defense and went five-hold on Rob Gunderson for the equalizer at 13:31.

The game remained deadlocked in the final minutes of the third and was sent into extra minutes, giving UAA its second tie in three games.

Overall, Minnesota registered a 33-23 edge on Alaska Anchorage in shots, with UAA taking a 10-8 upper hand in the second frame. The Gophers managed to find the net five times in OT, while UAA was unable to crack the defense.

With the tie, Gunderson (31 saves) remains undefeated on the season with a 1-0-3 record, while Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox (21 saves) sits at 5-1-1.

The Seawolves will be idle next weekend before returning to the road for a WCHA series against the Bemidji State Beavers, Nov. 23-24.

The Seawolves (2-0) also got 17 points from guard Kyle Fossman, plus 10 points and nine rebounds from center Liam Gibcus as they won the unofficial title of their season-opening event.

The Thunderwolves (0-2) were led by 21 points and eight rebounds from guard Arden Dennis, while reserve guard Ryan Arel produced 16 points on 4-of-6 three-point shooting.

UAA took the lead two minutes in and never trailed, stretching its advantage as high as 58-44 with 11:33 to play.

The visitors from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference sliced their deficit to 73-68 with 2:45 left when Dennis coverted a fast-break layup, but that was quickly answered by a traditional three-point play from Seawolf guard Mike MacKelvie, and UAA sank 9 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes.

Stafford, a transfer from Snow (Utah) College, finished with strong shooting numbers of 7-for-13 overall, 3 of 5 on three-pointers and 5 of 6 at the foul stripe, while dishing three assists. The Auburn, Wash., native was named the AT&T Jamboree Most Outstanding Player.

Fossman, meanwhile, played all 40 minutes, nailing 4 of 8 three-pointers, along with two assists, no turnovers and two steals. The junior from Haines made the All-Jamboree Team along with Gibcus, who shot 5 of 8 and pulled down six of his rebounds on the offensive end.

UAA put all five of its starters in double figures, with junior guard Colton Lauwers accounting for 13 points (2-5 3FG, 7-9 FT) and six rebounds, and MacKelvie tallying 12 points (5-11 FG), eight rebounds and five assists in just his second game as a Seawolf.

The Seawolves return to their home court next week for a pair of games against Washington Adventist on Thursday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 17.

NOTES: The Seawolves have now won 14 straight AT&T Jamboree games, dating back to a 2004 loss to Grand Canyon … UAA is now 38-7 all-time in 18 Jamborees … junior transfer Stephan Heard had nine points (3-3 FG, 3-3 FT) and three rebounds in Saturday’s win … Heard, a 6-7 forward from Long Beach, Calif., has not missed a field goal in his first two games as a Seawolf, having made both attempts in Friday’s win over Colorado Christian … true freshman point guard Jalen Little had four assists Saturday.